Bidental
An erection on a spot where lightning had fallen. The name is derived from the sacrifice of
a young sheep (
bidens) by the
haruspices at the
place. Sometimes, from the resemblance of the structure to the mouth of a well, it was called
puteal, as in the case of the
puteal Libonis or
Scribonianum at the eastern end of the Forum Romanum, and another in the
Comitium. (See
Puteal.) When lightning had struck a
spot, it was held necessary
condere fulgur, either
publice or
privatim, according to the nature of the place. If a
man had been killed by the lightning, it was not lawful to burn the corpse, but he was buried
on the spot (
Plin. H. N. ii. 145). Everything
which had been scorched or scattered by the lightning was solemnly collected by the pontiff
(who was at a later date assisted by the
haruspices) and piled up with a
low muttered prayer. A
bidens was offered, and a small enclosure, neither
paved nor covered, was built around the heap, and was further surrounded by an exterior wall,
bearing the legend
fulgur conditum. Many inscriptions
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Remains of a Bidental. (Pompeii.)
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of this kind are still extant, and at Pompeii a bidental has been discovered, of
which the outer protection is formed by eight Doric columns (Mazois,
Ruines de
Pompéi, t. iv., pl. ii. iii.). It was not lawful to tread this
locus religiosus, or even to look into it (
Ammian.xxiii. 5).
From Horace (
A. P. 471) it appears to have been believed that a person who
was guilty of profaning a bidental would be punished by the gods with frenzy.
